The Difficult Birth of A New Era
by Starkreactor
Summary: Doc # 11 has come through his regeneration, but is suffering for it. 10 had not let go easily, and this crippled regeneration just might mess up his first adventure with his new companion, Amy. Rated in case
1. A Blue Box

I know I have loads of unfinished stories. I know you should be mad at me, so go ahead. Be mad. *dodges flying fruit* Anyway. I am insanely excited about the fifth season of Doctor Who starting, and to keep my excitement at bay I have been story then, is my take on the Eleventh Doctor's regeneration and first adventure, made up before I knew ANYTHING of the new series. Later on I pull stuff from the trailers, but at the time of writing his meeting with Amy I only knew that Matt was playing 11 and that Amy Pond was his companion. That was all. So here is my take.

Forgive if it sucks. I tried to keep bits of 10's personality for the transition faze, but also tried very hard not to make 11 a copy of 10.

* * *

The Doctor was crashing.

He didn't know why, but he felt an inexplicable euphoria at the feeling. Crashing just seemed……right. Like that's what was _supposed _to happen in that exact moment. So it came as no surprise to him when he found himself brutally thrown to the floor as the TARDIS came to a rough stop, somewhere in the galaxy at some time. He had no idea when or where, but that was hardly out of the ordinary.

What was out of the ordinary was his inability to stand right away. Though hitting one's head against the TARDIS consol usually wasn't a good thing, the Doctor found himself even more incapacitated than he was used to.

"Blimey, feel like I've had the whole of the Time Vortex flushed through my systems a few times over." He muttered, trying to push himself to his feet. Once upright, he found himself swaying unsteadily and he gripped the consol, frowning as a strange heat began to build in his chest. Breathing out in an uncontrollable motion, the Doctor felt the heat fill his lungs and throat before being expelled from his mouth, a rapidly fading golden mist the only clue to his confusion.

"Oh, so it was the Time Vortex" He muttered, squinting at the cloud right before he lost consciousness completely and fell heavily to the floor.

11*11*11*11*11

Amy Pond was busy.

Her life went from work to online classes to house work back to work. She felt so rushed, and yet she felt empty. Sitting heavily down at her kitchen table, she rested her head in her hand, coffee mug sitting close by, steaming but so far untouched. It was very early in the morning, and the sun's rays had only just begun to stream through her bay window. The stain glass that hung in the frame glittered and threw the light. She lost herself in them, imagining something else, something she couldn't quite place. The same something that she'd known she wanted ever since she was a little girl. Something………more.

Sighing and letting her head drop from her hand, she reached wearily for her coffee cup, a sudden crashing noise causing her to jump and knock the cup on it's side. Jumping up and righting the mug, she cursed softly before looking in the direction of the sound, padding her bare feet across the kitchen floor warily, her pink robe slipping off of one shoulder and revealing her Smurf shirt.

Peering around the doorframe, she had to cover her mouth to keep from shrieking in surprise as she saw her living room was destroyed. Looking up, she was amazed to find that the ceiling was intact, but the rest of the room absolutely was not. Her telly was shattered, her furniture splintered, and her rug torn up so that the staples stuck out at odd angles from an unfinished floor. Smack in the middle of the chaos was a giant blue police box, the wood looking worn, and the paint looking faded. One window was broken, and a light at the top blinked weakly, as though about to go out.

Against all better judgment, she moved closer, her fingers settling apprehensively on the beat-looking handle. To her further surprise the door swung open of its own accord, and beyond it lay a space far too large to be contained within a four by four police box. Circling the structure with her mouth open and her sanity steadily slipping, Amy found herself right back where she started, her eyes telling her that the space inside indeed was, bigger. And stranger. Though it was damaged, the inner structure was quite clearly not of her world.

Her hand resting on the splintered door frame, Amy was trying to steel her resolve to walk away and check herself into a mental hospital. She was seconds away from doing just that too, when she heard a sound of pain, a sound like someone groaning. No matter whom she was or what the box contained, Amy could never leave something to suffer.

Drawing a deep breath, she stepped inside, her head spinning with the sheer impossibility of it all. It really was _bigger_ on the inside. By quite a lot.

Her wits returned quickly, however, when she saw a man lying unconscious in the middle of broken material.

Rushing over to him, she knelt down, placing a hand on his chest and leaning her head near his mouth, praying that he was breathing. Absently she noticed that his suit was ill-fitting and his skin felt strangely cool. He was breathing, but barely, and there was a strange vibration? No, rhythm? No, a strange _something_ coming from his chest. She couldn't place it for the life of her, and human instinct would tell her to call 911, but she decided that if this man was a figment of her imagination she had better care for him herself.

Feeling along his neck and shoulders carefully, she tried to ensure he had no spinal injuries before she attempted to move him. He seemed intact enough, and with a great effort she heaved him up over her shoulders and staggered into her bedroom, laying him on the bed a little less gently than she would have liked. He had a thin build, but he was by no means light.

Hands on her hips, Amy tried to decide what to do next. The man was obviously quite thoroughly unconscious, bruised, and perhaps concussed. She should check for a concussion and make sure his pulse was stable.

Running the simple objectives through her head repeatedly, Amy ran from the room to fetch a flashlight and stethoscope. She had one from when she was a little girl, when she used to play doctor. She just never could let go of it, the memory of receiving a real stethoscope on her seventh birthday was too fond to throw away.

As she left, the Doctor's body continued to try and heal, a procedure proving much more difficult than it should have been. Fighting a regeneration was never good. As another wave of heat and silent pain flowed through his body, the Doctor's consciousness buried itself deeper, hiding in the cold recesses of an attempted healing coma. In the few moments that it took for Amy to fetch her supplies and check his eyes, one of his hearts faltered and stopped altogether. The Doctor, however, was too far gone to know.

Amy worriedly pressed the bell of her stethoscope to her patient's chest, wishing she actually knew what she was doing beyond 'if they're breathing and have a pulse they are alive'. When she had checked for a concussion his eyes had reacted so slowly at first she felt she was staring into a dead-man's eyes. As it was, even when the dark irises contracted she felt with a shuddering realization that whatever soul possessed this body was buried very deep.

Listening to his heart, she felt his radial pulse as well; alarmed to find that while she could hear his heart beating she could not find a throb at the wrist. Shaking her head and chalking it up to nervous fingers, she then realized how very _cold_ he had become. His skin was pairing with his eyes-if it weren't for the slowing pulse she could hear she would think that she was caring for a corpse that was gradually cooling.

Feeling utterly useless, Amy plopped down on the bed next to him, not knowing what to do, or what would be helpful, or what wouldn't be helpful, or that she wasn't just taking care of an imaginary corpse in the first place.

* * *

So, is the TARDIS in flames because of my writing, or is it half-way decent? Lemme know if you wish!


	2. Dying after Dying

The Doctor was dying. Rather inconvenient, he thought, dying right after dying. How embarrassing would it be if he woke up in a new **new** body. The ultimate embarrassment for a Gallifreyan. Regeneration before the new body was even whole. And his only consolation was that the next body just _might_ be ginger.

If only he hadn't tried so very hard to keep the last body.

Or if that body hadn't been so very intent on staying.

Thinking of his regeneration problems as his previous incarnation's fault helped him feel better, like it was another person who was causing his new born body to fail. So that's what he did. He blamed ten for his desperation to live. He blamed nine for his willingness to die, and he blamed four for liking jelly babies so very much. He was certain they couldn't be good for his later health.

But after a while he got bored of passing the blame, because deep in his hearts he knew that things just were the way they were. He was not ashamed of his will to live, or his love of sweets, and certainly not of his sacrifice for Rose. No, the thought of being angry with his ninth regeneration for saving her life snapped all of his shattered personalities back into one, her name and memory healing his mind so that he could heal his body.

That will to live was still evident.

11*11*11*11*11

Amy worriedly sat by the bed of her newfound companion, no longer aware or even caring that she was late for work. Somehow it didn't matter. She was too afraid that the second she walked out the door he would end up dying, and in light of a police box showing up in her living room work seemed utterly insignificant. She would see how she felt when the bills came, but for now it didn't matter.

Reaching out a hand, she brushed aside one of the long locks of dark hair hanging over his deep-set eyes. His hair fell through her fingers like dark water, and when her hand brushed his cheek the skin was soft, but icy cold. Placing her hand gently, almost fearfully to his chest, she could feel no breath, and under her palm there was not even a whisper of a heartbeat.

But she couldn't bear to move him.

He had died, this wonderful, mysterious stranger, and she had done almost nothing to prevent it. Somehow at his death she felt a terrible loss; as though she had had a great opportunity slip through her fingers.

Sitting numbly next to him, her fingers absently brushed across his collarbone, the top button of his shirt coming undone as she did so. Her knuckles rested on his jaw and throat, gently stroking the cool flesh.

Amy should have been wondering what she was doing, but she didn't care. She was deeply regretting the fact that she had never known the man's voice, or seen his hand reached out towards hers in a beckon. She would never see the excitement flare in his eyes.

She shook her head, trying to clear it. She was being silly. Why did she have any reason to think that he would take her away? Somehow she knew that he was a traveler, and not one of that world. It was a quirk of her personality that she always seemed to know something important about a person upon seeing them, but she still had no reason to assume that he would take her anywhere.

Sighing and resting her hand on his chest for the last time, she moved to get up, suddenly stopping when she saw his head turn slightly and his lips part in an exhale. From his mouth streamed a golden mist, and under her palm she felt a single rhythm. But not a rhythm of two- no, a rhythm of four. Beat through once before falling silent again.

Amy drew her hand back as though she'd been burned. He was alive. He was alive but he was so cold. And what was that strange beat in his chest? It couldn't be a heartbeat. But frankly Amy couldn't decide what else it possible could be.

Deciding that no matter who this man was she should call a doctor, Amy dialed the phone and bit her lip as she waited. Christian wouldn't want to talk with her, but at least she had a good reason.

"Hello?"

"Hey Christian, it's me."

"Amy?" There was a heavy sigh on the other end. Amy clasped her patient's hand to solidify her resolve. "I thought we agreed things were over and we should stay away from each other."

"I know Christian, but this is important. I may be loosing my mind, but there is a man here who is very sick and I don't feel that I can take him to a hospital."

"Your new boyfriend I'm guessing?" He said cynically, making Amy wince.

"No you dolt! I'm not as needy as you seem to want me to be." She snapped, immediately regretting it. "Look, I just need your help. I think he's dyin' and I really can't take him to a hospital. There is something weird about him, and either he would get autopsied pre mortem or I would get locked in a padded room. Either way I'd rather get the verdict from you first."

Christian sighed. "Alright, I'll be over in a few ticks, just don't expect me to stay any longer than he needs me to."

Amy heard the click of the other line before she could reply.

Setting the phone down in frustration, she turned her attention back to the man lying on her bed to try and take her mind off of her just-until-recently boyfriend. His skin was still ice cold and when she placed her fingers against his throat she still could feel no pulse. Maybe he really was dead and she had cracked completely.


	3. Life Revived

Just saw the Eleventh Hour, and may I say, Matt Smith is brilliant. I'm really excited to see what else he does, but the new episode is so worth the wait we had to endure. That being said, I will just continue to write this in the same vein I was before, I'll just pull more of Matt's acting into the later chapters.

* * *

The Doctor was fighting.

It was a struggle just to hold onto life. Just to force his hearts to beat once more.

He felt so tired. He knew his body was doing better- the coma was doing him good and his second heart had wearily begun to work again, but there was a fine line between a level ten healing coma and death.

A very fine line.

Death without regeneration. That's what he was facing now. And he felt so tired.

But wait, wasn't there more to do? More to see? Even after nearly a thousand years of living he still didn't feel satisfied. The Doctor's soul was hungry, ravenous for adventure. Discovery. And he'd be buggered if his body was going to slow him down.

Gathering his strength, every shred of what was left, he forced himself to breathe- no longer relying on his repertory bypass. That action in and of itself caused his consciousness to fade and flicker with exhaustion, but he refused to give up. Stretching to his limits he forced one heart to pulse with a slow thump thump. A last exertion of energy and his second heart followed suit, mimicking the sound that heralded his death.

The sound now drawing him back to life.

But he was so cold. Even for his regular temperature of 15 degrees Celsius, he was slowly returning to find his body corpse-like. It would be very annoying warming up again.

And that burning, in his hand. Whatever was touching his hand was so hot. Almost unbearably so. Streaks of fire rested at the base of his throat until they were mercifully removed, and then the burning went internal.

Wonderful, he was just entering the semi-conscious-unconscious state when the vortex energy decided to build up for release again.

Forcing his lungs and jaw to work, he let the cloud escape, relieving the pain temporarily. If the vortex energy was still being collected and released, that meant that it wouldn't be long before he woke up again.

But that didn't mean waking up was easy.

11*11*11*11*11

Amy Pond was feeling anxious. So anxious she found herself once again gripping the hand of a total stranger.

Again he shifted and again the cloud of gold misted from his mouth, dissipating into the air with a warm rush. Suddenly deciding to test a theory, Amy quickly put her hand on his chest again, her suspicions confirmed when she felt the double rhythm again. Just once. But it was stronger that time and his chest felt warmer than before. Before she could speculate further, she heard her front door open and several expletives of surprise issue from her ex boyfriend standing in the door way.

She rushed out to the living room.

"Amy??!! What in BLOODY HE-"

Amy put a hand on his mouth. "Look, I know my living room is a disaster. Just come on. I have him in my bedroom."

"Oh, he's in your bed I suppose?" Christian said cynically.

"As a matter of fact he is. And before you go calling me anything inappropriate, he was thoroughly unconscious long _before_ he ever touched my bed. I doubt he even knows what I look like; he just showed up in my sitting room in that box. Now are you going to act like the doctor you pretend to be and help him, or are you going to stand there like a royal dolt?"

Christian set his jaw angrily and pushed past her, making his way to her bedroom.

"Well, he looks bad enough." The medical graduate muttered, picking up the stethoscope from where it was sitting on the nightstand.

Amy folded her arms and set her hips, deeply annoyed that Christian still couldn't get past the fact that there was a man in her bed.

Christian's whole demeanor, however, changed when he placed the stethoscope to the man's chest. His eyes widened in surprise and he moved the bell back and forth in growing confusion.

"Amy, take this and tell me I haven't gone insane."

Amy nearly laughed. He wanted _her_ to tell him he was sane? She was the one with a police box in her living room. Never the less, she took the stethoscope and listened. Though what she heard was extremely slow for a heartbeat, there was no doubt that's what it was.

"He- am I right in thinking he has two hearts?" Amy asked slowly, looking up at Christian.

"Yea, that's what I thought too!" His eyes were still wide. "I just didn't think it was possib-"

Suddenly a groaning complaint issued from the bed and cut Christian off, causing both him and Amy to look down in surprise.

"Ahhhh- my hearts….." The man was awake, his eyes screwed shut in pain, his hand rubbing at his chest to try and sooth the aching muscles. "Never was much good at regenerations." He muttered, his eyes suddenly opening to focus on Amy.

"Oh, hello!" He gave her a huge grin. "Brilliant day I'm having, how about you?"

To Amy's shock, the stranger moved to sit up, his light brown eyes glittering with a vitality she never would of guessed he possessed.

"Hold on! You were on death's door a moment ago!" Amy said, putting a hand on the man's chest to stop him, shocked that he now felt _too _warm.

"No no, I'm fine." He grinned again, standing up, his height making it so she was now looking up to see him in the eye.

"No, no, you're not." 

The man seemed to not have heard her. "I'm the doctor by the way; I see you've been caring for me, quite grateful I'm sure. But I must be off, places to see, people to go. Alonzo!" With that, he went shooting out of the room, brushing past Amy and Christian like a whirlwind.

The two bewildered humans looked at each other for a moment before they heard some thumping and the crazed houseguest came careening back, using the door frame to slow himself down and stop. "No, Alonzo is not right, that was the last one." His brows furrowed in concentration before he brightened again "Ah yes, Geronimo!!!!" Again he whipped around, taking back off out of sight.

Christian was the first to move. "Sir!" Amy followed as the Doctor stopped at the police box, watching from a short distance as her ex ran up behind the other man and tried to get him to listen to reason.

"Sir, you are obviously not well, please, come sit down and we will try and sort things out." Standard doctor talk, but Amy couldn't blame him. She wasn't sure what to say either.

"I am obviously quite well enough to comprehend what you're saying, and well enough to stand on my own two feet, and well enough to try and help my TARDIS, so I will thank you very much if you would stop telling me what I am and am not well enough to do, considering you are not even of my species." He continued to walk around and around the police box as he talked, inspecting the numerous cuts, dings, and burns on the outside, treating it as if it was a living thing.

"Not of your species???" Christian said indignantly, seeming to have forgotten completely the two-hearts thing.

The Doctor didn't seem to notice, trying the latch on the TARDIS and disappearing inside. Amy sighed and ran after him, the size of the place not fazing her this time.

"Sir,"

"Doctor." He corrected her, moving about the severely damaged interior with a device that functioned as a fire extinguisher.

"Doctor. Please. You were very cold just a moment ago, and just now you felt like you escaped a furnace. I really would be shocked if you were alright. And you kept breathing out that-"She waved her hands in the air, looking for the words. She still felt slightly insane. "that gold mist. I'm pretty sure by now that you're not human, or from earth. But I still can't believe that you are completely fine."

The Doctor wrestled with the extinguisher for a determined moment, his tongue sticking out at the corner of his mouth in concentration before the device backfired on him and sent him flying onto his butt, the fire whooshing out in the process. Sitting up, he sputtered as white foam fell in his face and soaked into his hair and clothes. Blinking rapidly, he turned his attention on Amy. "Why in the world would you think anything of the sort?"

Amy had to stifle laughter. Right then he reminded her of her little brother. His overly long hair was sticking to his forehead from the weight of the foam, and his face told her he really didn't realize how ridiculously cute he looked.

"Oy! None of that. I can hear you sniggering over there." He pointed a reprimanding finger at her face, but his eyes were smiling. "I'll have you know that I just got off of dying, and after dying one tends to have loads of excess energy. The perfect way of getting rid of that energy right now would be to help my old girl back into shape." He jumped up, brushing the foam out of his eyes so he could stare at a screen. When it didn't give him the results he was hoping for, he tapped it a few times before hitting it somewhat aggressively on the top, his face brightening when the screen lit up.

"Yes, that's all very well. I suppose if you are determined to have this fixed, you could use some help. Especially since you seem to be more off your rocker than I am! How can anyone have more energy after dying??" 

His response was serious. "I'm just brilliant like that. Now stop questioning my biology! Perhaps if you're still around in a few years, you'll get to see me die splendidly first hand, but I quite intend to keep this body for a while. It feels wonderfully young. That's a jolly good thing too, since I tend to do a lot of running." He immediately demonstrated by sprinting out of sight and then back into sight with a handful of tools that Amy couldn't even start to figure out.

Sliding underneath the main consol, he was once again out of sight, and the only thing she could hear was the clinking of tools against metal and the occasional fritz of a sparking wire.

One of those fritzes was accompanied by a loud "Ow!" From the Doctor, who then proceeded to swear in a language she didn't even begin to recognize. Behind her, Christian was timidly poking his head in the door, wondering if he should trust something that was dimensionally impossible.

"It's safe, far as I can tell." She assured him, then looked around. "At least all of the fires are gone."

Christian edged his way inside, looked around like a frightened jackrabbit, then sprinted over to Amy.

"I think now would be the perfect time for you to explain _everything_."

* * *

Review if you wish =)


	4. A New Beginning

Some people (besides myself) seem to be enjoying this, so I'm happy for that =D Thanks to all who subscribed and reviewed and all that, hope you still like it, it feels like rubbish compared to the actual first episode, but I'm a sucker for Doctor whump, and that crazy regeneration was asking for way more problems than he actually ended up having, so sue me if I write it in. I know, I'm sick.

Enjoy!

* * *

Amy gave Christian the quick rundown of everything that had happened to her since that morning, and by the end of it he looked more dazed than he had when she'd begun.

"I think I need to sit down." He muttered faintly, beginning to lean against one of the broken supports near the wall. Just as his hand made contact however, the lights flickered and a screeching groan came from within the central consol. Christian leapt back with a yelp and the Doctor popped his head up from under the grating, one of the strange tools in his mouth.

"Hey! Don't touch that! She's wounded, how would you like it if you were wounded and burned and someone went and stuck their hand right in the sores?" He gave Christian a genuinely angry and disapproving look before turning on Amy.

"If your boyfriend can't have more respect for my TARDIS, then you can get him out, because I don't care if you both saved my life or helped me along or whatever. The TARDIS has saved me much more often and my loyalties lie with her first. Understand?"

Amy was taken aback. First the man seemed like he was dying, then like he was the happiest person in the world, and now like he was a very dangerous, very angry being.

Whatever just happened to him, it sure seemed to give him mood swings.

Christian, however, was busy staring in disbelief at the Doctor. "You mean this thing is _alive_??"

"You heard me."

"But-but aren't you afraid it's going to eat you or something???"

The Doctor's face clouded dangerously. "_It_ is a she, and _she_ is the only companion in all of my many centuries of travel that hasn't deserted me." He took a step up and walked toward the other man threateningly. "And if you insult her one more time, I will let her do what she wants with you."

Though the Doctor wasn't that much taller than Christian, the human nevertheless backed down. Protective aggression was rolling off of the Doctor in waves, and Amy's ex had had enough for one day.

"Ok, got you. Looks like you're perfectly fine, so I'll be going now." He said placatingly, backing away. "Like I said, I'm only staying until he doesn't need me anymore, and clearly, I am not needed." He said to Amy, turning quickly and almost running out of the TARDIS door.

Amy wasn't sorry.

"Now then, you." He said, pointing at Amy. "D'you fancy helping me?"

"I could try, I'm not much of a mechanic."

"Don't need to be, I just need you to help me by holding pieces as we go." He disappeared back down the hole in the floor, and Amy followed.

Below the damaged grating, she found the Doctor lying on his back, tinkering with something that made a whirring sound. His long fingers twisted the tip around and around for a few moments before it made a satisfying click. He then proceeded to hold the device above his head and a blue light illuminated his face as it whirred into action.

Right before sparking and dying.

"Ohhh." The Doctor complained, sitting up again, his hair flopping into his eyes. "I don't believe this. My sonic screwdriver!"

Amy stared at the device. That was supposed to be a screwdriver??? "Your what?"

"My screwdriver!" He said, shoving it in her face. "My sonic screwdriver! Tell me, how am I supposed to fix the TARDIS without my sonic screwdriver?!??"

"Uh, with an un-sonic screwdriver?" She guessed.

The Doctor looked shocked.

Oo, wrong thing to say.

"No. NO. That will not do. We must build a new sonic screwdriver before we proceed any further. Amy, I thought you were cleverer than that. Why would I ever touch a machine like this with a plain old screwdriver??"

Amy followed him as he walked briskly down a corridor towards his work room. "But I thought you said this was alive."

"She is alive. It's only you humans that seem to think all machines are dead things." He replied, turning a corner abruptly and passing through what looked like a gel barrier and into a well-lit and _very_ alien looking room.

Amy slipped through the barrier apprehensively, finding the membrane to be warm and slippery.

"Poor girl." The doctor muttered, patting one of the walls. "She's so hurt she can't maintain the usual form that makes these rooms more familiar to humans. As soon as she's better this will have semi regular feel to it."

Amy frowned. "You mean this thing changes according to how sick or well she is?"

The Doctor nodded, his quick fingers and eyes darting about as he plucked seemingly random parts from the pockets of space in the bee-hive like walls. "She can grow and change, even more effectively than I can."

"Hold on, you can change your shape too?"

The alien nodded. "My species can change their face when we are fatally wounded. Change their whole body in fact. It's a way of cheating death. It's usually pretty hard on the next body though. You found me right after a regeneration, that's why my body all but shut down in a healing coma." He explained, intently piecing parts together into something that Amy really didn't think looked anything like a screwdriver.

"So when I thought you were dying, you were really just being born." Amy whispered, watching him work, her attention suddenly switching from the focus of how strange everything was to how wonderfully new everything was.

The man before her was not what most would call handsome; his eyes were deep set, his cheekbones were well defined, and his face had a sort of long and angular look to it, but there was something about him that made him beautiful. To look at his face she would assume him to be no older than 27, and his body bore no scratch or sign from childhood illness or rough play. He really had been re-born. But whoever he was, she knew he was not young. When she looked into his eyes it was as if the time of the universe was looking back, everything ancient, everything vast in the universe was captured in those eyes.

She watched as his agile fingers darted around his work space, fitting pieces together, the tendons under the flesh flexing and moving with precision. His dark eyes followed his work, and his lips were pressed together in concentration. His whole being was focused on the task before him, and something told Amy that was how he did everything.

Suddenly a grin lit up his face and he turned to her, holding up the device he had just built. "There we are! Good as new. Well, better than new. Come on, the TARDIS won't wait all day!" He said, talking back over his shoulder as he almost ran back to the central consol. Amy followed just in time to watch him jump back down the hole he had been in before, his floppy hair standing up for a moment as he dropped before landing back in his eyes. He brushed it aside and flipped onto his back again, going right to whatever he had been working on previously.

Amy crouched by the hole, watching for a brief moment before speaking up. "Anything I can do?"

The voice that answered her was muffled, and she assumed he had something or other held between his teeth. "Yea, could you pull that lever right above my head, the one with the chipped handle?"

Amy looked up to be greeted with five leavers, and none of them were in particularly good shape. "Doctor- there are a lot of leavers. Which one??"

There was a whirring noise and a green light as he put his new sonic screwdriver to use, and then he pulled his head out from under the consol to look at her. "The one in the center, got a great big gouge out of the back of the wood, can't miss it." He pointed in the lever's direction with the screwdriver before putting the tool back in his mouth and disappearing again.

Amy compliantly pulled the lever, and a similar routine continued for the next three hours. The Doctor would disappear into a crevice or pocket, and Amy would receive her muffled instructions. Just when she was starting to think that the work would never end, he jumped up from his spot near the wall and grabbed her hand, rushing out of the door and back into her living room before she had a chance to yelp.

"Doctor-what..?!"

"She's going to re-build internally. I'd hate to get sucked up when she liquefies and be re-built into the ceiling." He said matter-of-factly, looking at her. "Wouldn't you?"

Amy nodded. "Yea. That _would_ ruin my day."

"I know!" The Doctor agreed with her enthusiastically. "Now, this will take a bit, so if you're coming you may as well gather your things while she's healing."

Amy blinked. He really was going to take her away. "Wait, I can come??"

The Doctor looked at her as if it was obvious. "Of course. I thought you wanted to, you seem sort of lost here."

Amy swallowed. He seemed to be almost able to read her mind. "Yea, alright. Not like I have anything left here to live for."

The Doctor looked at her sympathetically. "No family? No mates?" he asked softly.

Amy shook her head. "I'm an orphan, and Christian doesn't care for me anymore." She tried to make light of the statement, but her voice trembled anyway.

"Go and get your things then." He said gently, his tone one of apology and understanding. It was clear he was someone who knew what it was like to be alone.

Amy nodded and ran to her bedroom, the Doctor staying behind respectfully to let her gather her thoughts as well as her things.

* * *

I know none of you are going to believe me, but I wrote her as an orphan WAY before I saw the Eleventh Hour or knew ANYTHING about the new series besides who the actors were going to be- uncanny, huh? Reviews are love!!


	5. Seeing the Stars

Thank you all for the encouragement, I am very pleased to know you are enjoying this! We are getting to the end of the writing I had done before seeing the Eleventh Hour, so Matt's acting and references from his episodes should be bleeding through soon. Love to all you who reviewed!!!! (And a key to the TARDIS- that beats cookies I think :D)

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A few minutes later and Amy had collected everything that meant anything in her life. It only took up the space of a small back pack, and the Doctor only looked at her when she put her things down. Amy slid down to join him at his spot on the floor, leaning her back against the TARDIS like he was doing.

"So, what kind of ship is this?" She asked, hugging her knees for comfort. After her admission she felt very exposed.

"A time machine. The TARDIS. Stands for time and relative dimensions in space."

"A moment ago I would have had a hard time believing that this thing could fly, let alone travel through time- but the bigger on the inside and the two hearts have me convinced that pretty much everything I know is wrong."

The Doctor smiled. "Not _everything,_ just _many_ things. And most of the things you have wrong are matters of opinion."

"Like aliens don't exist?"

He tilted his head to look at her with a knowing smile. "Exactly."

"So if you don't mind me asking, what sort of alien are you?"

"Time Lord. Last of them I'm afraid."

Amy looked at his sad smile with regret for having brought it up. So he really did know what it was like to be alone. "I'm sorry."

"Yea. Thanks." He looked down, looking small and vulnerable and young, and also very old and weary. "Doesn't matter now. And you know a bit of how I feel, loosing your parents and all. So I'm not the only one who should have the sympathy here." He picked his head up to look at her again, his eyes locking with hers.

A shared healing sympathy passed between them without any other words being needed.

After a while the TARDIS made a friendly beeping click, a sound that reminded Amy of a computer booting up. The Doctor jumped to his feet and Amy followed, entering the TARDIS and looking around. It was **completely** different.

The interior was predominantly orange, and looked even bigger than it was before. There was a second level that went below the main floor, and a set of stairs going up to a third level. The floor was no longer metal grating but glass instead, with blue lights accenting the underside and base.

"Wow, where have you been hiding this design girl?" The Doctor exclaimed, running his hands over the controls affectionately. "You look brilliant!"

"She got even bigger!" Amy exclaimed, turning in circles as she took in the new décor.

"Yes, she did. Was time for a change. But hold on-" He stopped inspecting the TARDIS and looked up, his face puzzled. "There is something missing." He started counting off on his fingers. "New TARDIS, new sonic screwdriver, new hair, new me-" He stared at his fingers for a moment before almost exploding with "I KNOW! NEW OUTFIT!!"

Amy jumped, she couldn't help it, then stumbled as he grabbed her hand and whisked her away to the wardrobe room.

"Here, you stay here, I'll pop in and change, and then you tell me what you think, alright?"

"Uh, alright I guess."

The Doctor disappeared into a closet, and in a moment came out wearing what could only be described as green lederhosen.

Amy bit her lip to keep from laughing as he came bounding back a second time in a pirate sort of outfit, and when he returned once more in a kilt she completely lost it.

"Do you have nothing normal??" She asked between fits of laughter, leaning against the wall.

The Doctor looked hurt. "Do you really want me to look normal when I'm not? Besides, who are you to decide what 'normal' is anyway? You're human. You make up a millionth of a percentage of the entire galaxy's population, and yet you seem to think you know what normal is."

Amy went to say something else, perhaps in the form of an apology, but the Doctor continued.

"And if you only changed your outfit once every few years, possibly and hopefully more than ten, you would want some time to find the outfit that you know you're going to like for the rest of your incarnation."

"You could change in the middle of it." She pointed out.

The Doctor looked at her indignantly, folding his arms. He was very hard to take seriously in his kilt. "I don't think so! Once you find the right combination for a body, who would want to change?? You humans, always altering. Just pick something that goes with your face and strikes your fancy and move on!"

Amy was about to point out the lack of logic in that argument when she decided that right then he was mentally on the level of a tired toddler, and instead of being reasoned with needed to make up his mind and have a nap. Besides, Amy felt that it would be unfair to argue with someone who had the clear disadvantage of wearing a kilt.

"Alright, keep on looking then. Find something to suit you. I haven't anywhere to be." She said, trying to bring her giggles under control. She folded her arms resolutely and leaned against the wall, waiting.

The Doctor slunk back into his dressing room, but the next time he came out, in black trousers, tan shirt, burgundy bow-tie and a brown coat, she didn't laugh. And he was looking much more cheerful because of it.

"Well?" He asked, hands on the edges of his coat, turning his torso this way and that to let Amy see him from all sides as well as getting a good look in the mirror.

"You look fantastic." She said truthfully.

"Wonderful. I like it. Now, I think we have everything- though I do have one more question to put to you."

"Yea?"

"How's the face? See, because I think the nose isn't bad, but the chin has got to be the worst one in quite a while."

"Well, I think you look fine." Amy said, awkwardly trying to come up with something better to say.

"And the hair-" he continued. "I couldn't decide if I liked it at first or not, but it's sort of grown on me. No pun intended." He assured her, realizing the joke after the fact.

"I like the hair. Keep the hair." Amy said, hoping that would suffice. It felt awkward talking about his appearance like that. She felt embarrassed because she _had _been studying him earlier.

"Yea, you're right. Well, I think we are finally good. Now, to the consol, we have a universe to explore!"

"Where are we going?" Amy asked, watching as he flew around the TARDIS, pushing buttons and pulling leavers.

"Don't know to tell the truth." He replied, leaning against the controls as he looked at her. "Really up to you. Thought we'd start with a nice quiet spot on earth where you could decide. It's more fun picking when you see everything laid out before you."

When the TARDIS landed and it occupants exited, Amy saw instantly what he had meant by everything being before her.

They were on the top of a grassy hill, middle of the night with no moon to out-shine the stars. It was crisp, clear, and so far away from any city that stars she never knew existed shone brightly. They were the only light for miles, and she had never seen anything so beautiful.

"Wow, I guess being a city girl does get to you after a while." She breathed, still looking up. She was starting to get dizzy from the sheer size of it all.

Beside her, the Doctor had stretched out on the grass, tucking his hands behind his head in a very human gesture. Amy mimicked him, thankful that the grass wasn't wet.

Above them the universe was splayed out like a black velvet shroud, adorned with billions of diamonds.

"Billions of stars, billions of places, and you can go to any one of them Amy. Think of it." The Doctor breathed beside her, as much in awe as she was.

"What about that one?" She asked, pointing to a star above them, "It looks like it's a different color."

"Yea, a bit green up close, it's really a planet entirely covered in water, and there are no suns nearby so all of the plants and animals are bio-luminescent. Stays warm because the entire core of the planet right up to the crust is molten lava. Even hotter than your planet's core. It makes the water quite pleasant actually."

"And what about that one, it's flickering."

"Yea, sorry. Thought I'd fixed that." He apologized, smiling mischievously and rolling his head to look at her.

Amy furrowed her brows, studying the man beside her, trying in vain to figure him out. "Who are you?"

"I'm the Doctor." He replied mysteriously, the same mischievous look on his face. "All of time and space." He whispered, the starlight reflecting in his excited eyes. "Anywhere and anywhere, every star that ever was. Where do you want to start?"

Only a few minutes later and Amy was in the TARDIS wardrobe room, the Doctor helping her get suited up in what looked like a very slimmed down, very high-tech version of a diving suit. Amy almost felt like she wasn't wearing enough equipment to possibly last underwater for more than a few minutes, but the Doctor assured her that the air tank was very efficient.

After helping her secure her helmet, the Doctor dressed himself in a similar suit, and then opened the TARDIS door to reveal a dark expanse of water below them. The TARDIS was hovering over the surface of the planet Amy had spotted earlier, glowing fish flicking this way and that just a few inches under the still water. The entire planet was like one huge deep-water pool.

"Well, here we go." The Doctor said excitedly, taking Amy's hand and jumping in on the count of three.

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I know it's a bit short, but it was a good place to stop and I need to write more into the next chapter, reviews are wonderful if you have time!!! =D Oh, and yes. I was inspired by Tom Baker's first episode as the Doctor for the wardrobe scene- if you haven't watched it, it's so worth looking for on Youtube XD


	6. Underwater Hospital

Hey guys! Thanks so much for all the favs and subscribes and reviews etc, I hope you continue to enjoy! And don't worry, the doctor won't be unconscious for the whole fic, even thought it might seem that way. =D

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When they hit the water Amy reflexively gasped as the seals in her mask locked down and the air tank started working. The Doctor grinned and turned to her under the water, activating their intercom systems. His voice came through the speaker as if they were only talking through normal air.

"Told you the temperature was brilliant."

"Yea, it's perfect- how is it so clear?" She looked around, realizing that what she thought was a few inches between her and the fish was really several feet. The clearness of the water made the depth difficult to determine.

"Perfect filtering systems. The entire bottom of the lake floor is covered in filter feeders and corals. And the currents only travel through certain water levels."

"Yea, that was something else I was wondering, how do all of the fish breathe if there is no current? I mean, the surface is smooth as glass, no waves at all. And don't you mean sea bottom? This is a bit large to be a lake."

"Most of the animals down here don't need much oxygen, and the ones that do attach themselves to the plants at the bottom in a symbiotic relationship. And no, I don't mean sea bottom. This water is freshwater. No salt what so ever."

"Wow, so it's like a giant bath tub, only cleaner."

The Doctor chuckled. "Something like that. And the bath toys are considerably larger. Come on, I'll show you what I mean." He turned his body around and dove deeper, Amy following.

A tremor of fear seized her at first; she had never liked diving deep with so little light, but as they swam deeper the water gradually got brighter- there were more plants and animals lower down. And the Doctor was right _everything _glowed.

"Doctor, how come it's so dark up close if all of this shines brightly enough to be seen from earth?"

"Amy Pond." The doctor said, his voice holding a smile. "I knew you were brilliant. All of the light gathers below the surface because of chemicals in the first few feet of water. After a while the light particles get built up. Every few hundred years the light gets released and can be seen on earth."

They continued to dive deeper until Amy didn't feel like it was dark at all anymore. The bottom was now visible, and below them lay stretched an underwater city. A street paved with shells was visible, and arches of coral acted like mile markers and tunnels. Off in the distance, and entire city of crystal and coral could be seen, lit like a star that had fallen into the water.

"Whoa…" Amy breathed, turning herself in circles as she touched her feet to the lake floor. The Doctor touched down right behind her, his eyes darting in all directions as he took the scene in.

"Haven't been down here in five hundred years." He said happily. "They've progressed beautifully since I helped them. Great spires reaching into the upper layers, paved roads….gorgeous." He was lost in the moment before coming back to himself. "Shall we explore?" He asked, leading the way without giving Amy any time to answer.

He didn't get very far, however, before he clutched at his chest and fell to his knees. Strangely enough, even though they were under water, it was more like being in low gravity than anything, and he hit the lake floor almost like he would have on dry land.

"Doctor?" Amy said in alarm, moving forward and putting a hand on his back. "Are you alright?"

The Doctor shuddered for a moment before looking up at her, his face pained. "Yea, yea- I'm-" He didn't get very far before he was doubled up again, his teeth clenched in agony.

"Doctor. Tell me what to do." Amy said calmly, determined not to get stuck with an unconscious alien on another planet and no idea how to help him.

"I-" He gasped, his hand fisted in his suit as if he could take the pain from his chest and fling it away from himself. "I don't know." He managed to grind out.

Amy blinked. How could he not know?? It was his body. He must have some idea. Aspirin? A breath of fresh air? A cup of tea? There had to be something and he was getting her no-where. "Yes you bloody do. Now quit being a child and get up and talk to me!" She demanded, stamping her foot for emphasis.

The Doctor looked up, his pained expressing momentarily giving way to one of shock. The fiery Scottish girl tried to keep the fear and concern from her face as she stared into the Doctor's eyes with a conjured anger.

"You will not just lie down and die the moment you've taken me off of my planet." She continued, hating herself for the callousness she was employing. "Now get up and give me some bleeding instructions." Amy continued to struggle to hold her angry front, folding her arms across her chest resolutely, mostly so the Doctor couldn't see her hands shaking. She was scared. Not only for herself she realized, but for the Doctor as well. Strangely enough, her harsh reverse-psychology seemed to be working.

"Alright, no. You're right." He consented, nodding as his head bowed in suffering again. "I need…I need-thinkthinkthinkthink." He commanded himself, over and over as if it was a magic spell. Suddenly his head snapped up to look at her again. "Symbiote!" He announced triumphantly before loosing consciousness and falling limply back from his crouched position.

Amy looked down at his form in shocked dismay before falling to her knees beside him, realizing she no longer needed to keep up her act. Placing a hand on his chest, she was thankful the suits were so thin. She could feel him breathing and his hearts both beat rapidly under her fingers.

Problem was, apart from the scenery, she felt she was right back to square one. She didn't know what to do now any more than she had earlier. But wait, what did that word mean? Symbiote? She knew what a symbiote was, of course, but what had the alien meant by that?

Looking up from her focus on the Doctor's face, her eyes guided her to the city a little way away. Hadn't the Doctor mentioned something about helping them before? If he had helped them then perhaps they would remember and be able to return the favor. Remembering the fact that he was heavier than he looked, Amy was reluctant to try again to carry him, but when she hefted him over her shoulders she found it considerably easier than before.

"Right. We're underwater." She muttered to herself. "How could I forget."

Following the road they had been on, it didn't take Amy long to reach the city, and just as they were approaching she felt the Doctor's body tense across her shoulders. Freezing for a moment, she put him down carefully, his head right by the city gate. There was a long exhale and the golden mist filled his helmet, hovering about his face and lighting in his hair with no-where to escape to. At first he seemed to have gone still again, his breathing returning to normal; but suddenly he stopped breathing all-together. In any other circumstance Amy would have torn his helmet off and gotten rid of the golden gas, but in this instant she was smart enough to keep her head and know that water was much worse than any gas could be. Realizing that she was running out of time as the Doctor ran out of oxygen, she hefted him again, this time in her arms, and hurried into the city, calling for a doctor.

It never did occur to her that she was in a city of fish, where they may as well eat her as help her, or that she probably didn't know the language. And if the Doctor had been conscious, he would have smiled. Because those quirks in her nature were the exact reason he picked her.

Inside the gates were fish of all kinds, many reminding her of species that belonged to earth's oceans. Many others that reminded her of species that belong in nightmares. Or under a microscope. _Nothing_ with that kind of leg to body ratio should be allowed to be any larger than one cell.

Re-focusing her attention, Amy continued towards a building that reminded her of a hospital. It was large, well lit by glowing lichens and gelatinous globes, and the crab (spider?) she had just seen enter was limping along with a damaged leg. Biting her lip and hoping against hope that she was right, Amy walked resolutely up the stairs, avoiding at the last minute a thin semi-transparent creature that was slithering through the entrance. Upon reaching the lobby, Amy had no doubt that she was in a hospital, but she was having qualms that any doctor there would know what to do. As she was seen entering, a humanoid figure rushed up to her, its scales and gills the only real thing separating it from a human. At least at first glance.

"Species?" it asked politely, the voice very strange as it carried through the water. She couldn't decide if the sound of it was male or female, but the body structure suggested male.

"Uh-" Amy froze, searching her memory frantically to remember what he had told her.

_So if you don't mind me asking, what sort of alien are you?_

_Time Lord. Last of them I'm afraid._

"Time Lord." Amy blurted, causing the scaled creature to look at her in shock as he took the Doctor from her with surprising ease, shifting him into his arms. Amy _had _noticed that the thing was very well built.

"Are you certain??" It asked anxiously, its eyes boring into her.

"Yes, why-"

She was unable to finish her question as the creature turned abruptly and hurried toward one of the archways leading further into the hospital. At the door was another one of the scaled humanoids, this one bright red and looking older than the green one that now held the Doctor.

Green whispered something in Red's ear, and Red immediately put its hand on the Doctor's chest, looking with anxious interested at the Doctor's helmet, noting the golden mist. Amy came up behind them, starting to feel offended. He was _her _Doctor and who knew what they were planning on doing with him now.

She was too worried and too fire-blooded Scott to wonder where the sudden protectiveness had sprung from.

"Oi! I'd like very much to know what is going on. _After_ of course, you get him _breathing_ again!"

Green turned to look at her, his tone rushed but apologetic. "I do apologize young female; we will do all that we can for your mate. Follow us. We have no time to explain right now, but there are many lives that might be saved if we hurry."

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I'm not sure how great this is, I'm having a hard time keeping track of my storyline vs the official storyline vs what I've already written and mentioned vs pretty much everything, and it's 3:30 in the morning. So. Review if you wish, I will love you for eva!!!!!


	7. Remnant of Gallifrey

Thank you all for the reviews!!!!! (And corrections. I knew three in the morning was a bad time to write.) Anyway, I hope you continue to enjoy this, and thanks a bunch for reading!!!!!

Reviewers get a TARDIS self destruct button ;) Kudos for anyone who gets that.

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_Green turned to look at her, his tone rushed but apologetic. "I do apologize young female; we will do all that we can for your mate. Follow us. We have no time to explain right now, but there are many lives that might be saved if we hurry."_

"He's not my-" Amy said, staring open-mouthed at the two physicians as she hurried after them. He was her friend, but Amy felt certain that their definition of the word mate was quite a bit different than she was used to using it.

A few moments and a strange trek through the submerged hospital later, Amy followed the aliens into a room that already had an occupant.

Lying on what appeared to be a coral-grown bed, Amy's gaze fell on something that looked like a stingray, but the creature's eyes held an intelligence not known to animals.

Amy felt her breath catch. The ray was about as far across as a man's shoulders, and it was black with white circles and patterns all along its back. A pattern that looked eerily familiar.

And it was clearly dying.

Something about the creature made it incredibly beautiful. The eyes blinked blearily at her, the bright soul in them evident, but the light steadily going out.

Next to the creature's bed, Red and Green pulled another bed out of the wall, one of a similar structure. Red turned to the ray as Green lay the Doctor out on the second bed.

"Keriah. We have found a Time Lord. Your children may yet live." He said, speaking gently to the dying being, his eyes shining with a hope that he appeared to try and hide.

Amy got the distinct feeling that the doctors had given up hope on Keriah and her apparent children long ago. But what did the Doctor have to do with helping her??

Looking back at Green, Amy felt a wave of adrenaline and panic fill her body as she saw him unlatching the Doctor's helmet. "No! You can't!" She screamed, rushing to stop him. "He'll drown!"

"Jacrob, hold her back!" Green said quickly, giving Amy a regretful look as the red creature pulled her back, pinning her arms to her sides.

"Trust us please, your mate will be fine. Cyenl knows what he is doing." Jacrob said, his voice trying to soothe her.

Amy was far from convinced as Cyenl removed the helmet completely, immediately sealing the Doctor's nose and mouth with a webbed hand. He still wasn't breathing and Amy was starting to feel that it had to be too late by now. Useless panic began to overwhelm her as she strained against Jacrob's grip, watching as Cyenl guided the sick stingray over to the Doctor where she settled weakly over his body, her suction-like mouth covering his mouth and nose in place of Cyenl's hand.

Almost immediately the Doctor's chest expanded with a breath, and the stingray began glowing a gold color all along the white markings.

After what seemed like ages Jacrob finally let Amy go. She rushed to the Doctor's side and laid her hands on his face, avoiding any kind of contact with the stingray's head. Almost immediately she whipped around, stomping towards both of the now nervous looking humanoids.

"What did you do to him? What is that thing doing??"

"Please, calm yourself. We are only trying to help him. And her. She was dying, she needed a certain form of bio-energy, a form only a regenerating or regenerated Time Lord can produce in order to birth her young. And he was dying from an overload of that energy and the lack of filtering and oxygen in his suit. That kind of energy can't just be released through normal suit filters and vents."

Amy looked back at the Doctor. Already he was looking healthier, the color warming his face, and his breaths deep and regular. Still she felt uncomfortable. Flashbacks from watching the movie _Alien_ were rapidly on loop in her brain- and the fact that the Doctor now had a pregnant _something_ over his face that was breathing for him did not make her feel any better. For all she knew the creatures that pretended to be helping him might just be using him as a host and after the stingray finished feeding off of him…..

Amy shuddered and went back to the Doctor's side, compulsively reaching for his still gloved hand and squeezing it. She avoided looking at the ray spread-eagled across his chest, she was too afraid something would come bursting out of him any second.

"Alright." She ground out. "I'll trust you. For now. But if I find out that you're letting this thing use my friend for a nest box then so help me…." She let the threat hang in mid air, and the two doctors backed away a step.

"We are only trying to help. We would not foul the name of this establishment by harming any placed in our care intentionally."

"Yea, well, you can't pull off letting something burst out of my friend here accidental now can you? So that better not be what's going to happen." She muttered darkly in their direction before turning her attention back on the Doctor.

Once again she noticed that he was looking much healthier than before. Any tension in his body had gone, and he looked like he was peacefully and deeply asleep. The ray resting on top of him was now shining a bright gold interwoven between the black, and Amy now realized where she had seen the strange symbols before.

They were the same symbols etched in a multitude of places around the TARDIS consol and rooms. The circles and rings that looped together, almost randomly, but with some kind of indiscernible order.

"You see, young female. Your mate already strengthens. As well as the Gallifreyan Ray."

Gallifreyan. What a beautiful word, Amy thought, reaching out tentatively to touch the creature. Its back felt soft, like worn leather, and it shivered slightly under her touch, the gold symbols rippling.

"Amy."

Amy jumped, but her fingers never broke contact with the creature's back. Some voice had sounded inside her head. A voice she couldn't quite place.

"Amelia."

"Doctor?" Amy asked in shock, speaking out loud.

"Yes Amy, it's me. Are you alright?"

Amy swallowed. The Doctor was talking to her inside her head. Her first thought was to wonder how on earth he had gotten there. Her second was to realize how absurd that thought sounded.

"Yes, that was a strange thing to think, and to answer your question I'm not _in_ your mind so much as connected with it." The Doctor's voice came again, more clearly him this time.

"So you are talking to me telepathically while you're unconscious?" She asked, at first awed, then annoyed. "Why didn't you do this **before** when I hadn't a clue what you meant by 'symbiote'???"

"Amy, first off, you needn't shout, I'm right here. Second off, you don't even have to talk out loud. And I'd rather you didn't. While those Piscipaliods are wonderful physicians they really are rubbish at keeping gossip bottled up and right now you and I are big news."

"Alright." Amy thought with enough force to shove the Doctor right out of her head and into the back of his. "But you still haven't gotten to what I asked you before. Why wait until **now** to talk to me??!!"

"I was just getting to that bit!" He defended indignantly. "I couldn't broadcast a strong enough psychic signal on my own, especially when I was _suffocating_."

"Alright, fair enough. But how come you can broadcast now?" 

"The Gallifreyan Ray. She acts like a magnifier to my body's natural abilities, chiefly psychic output and healing ability."

"So she really isn't doing you any harm?" 

"No! Not at all. And you can shut down that part of your mind that keeps replaying that scene from _Alien_ thanks, I don't much like the idea of something with teeth coming out of me right now. Even if it is rubbish."

"Sorry. But still. How is the ray helping you?"

"She's breathing for me first, allowing all of my muscles to relax except my hearts. Second, the air she is filtering for me is the perfect blend of gasses for a Time Lord, it's like you humans being put on pure oxygen for a short amount of time, only better. She's also absorbing all of the extra energy I seem to have a difficult time processing. I told you I have a lot of energy after dying, well, if that energy is not released properly I will be seriously injured or even killed by it. There are plenty of Gallifreyans who didn't make it through a rough regeneration, and most of mine have been nasty."

"Hold on, you said Gallifreyans. As in Gallifreyan Ray?"

"Yes, sort of. Gallifrey is the planet both I and this beautiful creature originated on. She's one of the few left, they don't last very long with out a Time Lord to help them reproduce. See, many species can use my extra energy for their benefit, but a Gallifreyan Ray is _made_ to absorb such energy. They can't give birth without it. They have extremely long life-spans; and a female will only birth once in her lifetime, but when the time comes she must have that extra energy or she and her young will die before they even had a chance."

Amy could feel the grief laden in the Doctor's thoughts, and she tried to convey comfort in hers, as useless as she felt. "So that's what you meant by symbiote." She thought quietly, understanding. "You're sure she's not going to use you as a nest though, yea?" She asked nervously.

She felt the Doctor laugh. "I'm sure. If she were to do that I would be calling her a parasite now wouldn't I? Don't worry, she just absorbs the energy and then detaches to have her young. I have nothing to do with it but the energy transfer."

Amy sighed, relieved and re-assured. "So how long is this going to take?" 

"Amy Pond, always wanting to be on the move." Amy could feel a sense of approval and amusement in his thoughts. "I knew I picked you for a good reason. Should only take another hour or so, then I'll be good to go and the ray will be ready to have her children."

"Are we going to stick around for that?" 

"Would you like to?" He asked, though he could already sense his companions' curiosity and interest. Oh had he picked the right girl to travel with.

"I would like to meet the little ones afterwards, yea.

"Then we'll stay."

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Yea for three in the morning!!!!! TARDIS self destruct anyone?


	8. To the Future

Yes, it's been ages. Yes, I've been busy and lazy at the same time. Yes, you may whack me over the head with a cricket bat. Just please don't damage the fez, ok?

This is the final chapter and for anyone who is still willing to read this rubbish story, I'm sorry for the slow update and you guys are SOOOOOOOOOO awesome for sticking with me. I'm almost embarrassed to look back on this story after seeing an entire season of 11 and Amy, because now I know how to write them and before I just didn't. Oh well, live and learn. Hope you enjoy!

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After the Doctor woke up and the ray released him, he and Amy retired to the waiting room to give her some privacy. A few hours after that Cyenl came to get them and as the Time Lord and his companion entered the maternity room, they were greeted by a small swarm of brightly flashing mini-rays.

Each of the miniatures were exactly like their mother, but they all flashed either white or gold, with no black to inhibit the brightness. They were settled all around and over their mother, some flashing slowly, others rapidly. When the Doctor entered the room however, they all began flashing excitedly and they fluttered up a few feet, waiting for one flashing signal from their mother before they swarmed all around the Doctor- covering him in what Amy always insisted afterward were little stingray kisses.

The Doctor laughed, his eyes shining in delight as he watched the little surviving remnants of his home world flit all over him. "Hello you!" He said, tickling one of the gold ones under its chin as it hovered in front of his face. The creature shivered in delight, and the Doctor's grin broadened. "He's laughing. The laugh of a Gallifreyan Ray is one of the most distinctive sounds in the entire universe. I almost forgot what it sounded like."

"Can I hear it?" Amy asked, reaching out to tickle one of the silvery-white ones. Almost instantly a chiming, bubbly, almost musical laughter filled her mind, making her warm from her head to her toes. She could feel the creature mentally nudge her and greet her, even as it rubbed against her helmet with an affectionate shiver, something like a purr.

"Oi! Give that back you little bugger!" The Doctor exclaimed. One of the gold rays- the same one he had been talking to, had slipped inside his diving suit pocket while he was busy with its many siblings and had stolen his sonic screwdriver. It now held the over-sized devise in its mouth, and was darting playfully back and forth with the prized piece of technology just out of the Doctor's reach.

Amy couldn't help herself, she began laughing. She was laughing so hard she couldn't stop, and the Doctor continued to scramble for his screwdriver, the mischievous ray keeping it away from him tauntingly. It was obvious that the creature had the clear advantage while underwater.

"Your mother just might have something to say to you when you go back over there!" He said, making another futile lunge for the device. The Ray flashed in a rapid pattern before flitting teasingly to the left. The Doctor looked outwardly disapproving, but Amy could see the mirth sparkling in his eyes. "Hey! You are not old enough to be using that sort of language. Now give me back my screwdriver!"

Amy continued to laugh as the one ray unrelentingly amused itself at the Doctor's expense and the others watched close by, hovering and flitting around one another to get a better view. Amy giggled as the silver one she had been playing with scuttled over her arms, gently suctioning the skin in hundreds of kisses.

Then she found herself on the floor. The Doctor had gotten so intent on getting his sonic prize back that he lost his balance and fell right into Amy, sending them both to the ground. Almost immediately they both broke out into hysterical laughter, and all of the rays swarmed around them, skimming over their arms and clothes, giving them excited kisses and purrs of happiness, rubbing against their necks like kittens would.

11*11*11*11*11*11*11*11

"I think that gold one took a fancy to you." Amy said teasingly, nudging the Doctor in the ribs as they walked out of the hospital.

"Yea, he enjoyed my efforts at catching him, that's for sure." The Doctor retorted, too happy to be convincingly ticked.

"So, where to now, Doctor?"

"I don't exactly know. So much to see, so much to do!" He enthused, gesturing with his hands. "We could go backwards, forwards, sideways- though I don't like sideways, usually gives me a right headache…."

Amy laughed. "How about we go forward. I'd love to see what earth looks like in a few thousand years."

"Not too much different." The Doctor shrugged. "Mostly the forms of transportation are all that change. Tell you what- by then they do have space cruises that are based off of earth. What do you think, Pond, fancy a cruise?"

Amy's eyes lit up. "A space cruise, with aliens and tour spots and all?"

The Doctor nodded, grinning.

"I don't think so." She suddenly said, causing his expression to shift to one of confusion.

"But I thought-"

"I'm already on a cruise!" She said, gesturing around herself. "I'm traveling anywhere and everywhere with an alien on his ship with _plenty_ of tour spots in store I'm sure." She said, hinting with the emphasis in her voice. "So long as we go into the future, I'm happy."

The Doctor grinned as they reached the spot just below where the TARDIS was waiting. "The future it is then Pond, the future it is."

* * *

Hope the ending was ok, this really was a 'make it up as you go along' story for me. Most are. If you want to leave me one final review that would be wonderful! Thanks again,

-Starkreactor


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